Summary of Parshat Bechukotai            

• Entering into a covenant with G-d at Sinai assigned the Jews special responsibilities.  G-d tells the Jews the sublime blessings that will come their way if they live as a "Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation" in order to further their positive influence on the world.  

• If the Jews fail in their assigned role, they will incur increasingly strident reminders that the covenant cannot be ignored.  The world needs us, and we must not ignore our mission.  G-d assures the Jews that He will never turn His back on us and sever His relationship with us.  When we rediscover our destiny, we will usher in for ourselves and the world an era of intimacy with G-d, happiness and peace. 

• Laws of voluntary gifts, including ancestral lands, to the Temple are detailed.

• Two of the tithes are explicated. Both the second agricultural tithe, of the first, second, fourth and fifth years of the Shemitta cycle, and the yearly tithe of newly born sheep and cattle are sanctified as gifts to G-d, but may be eaten by the owner in Jerusalem.

The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) ends.  Chazak Chazak V'nitchazek!  May we continue to study and fulfill the Torah with strength!